Hottestgistnaija.com
A group of old St. Charles Secondary School Students finds Gov. Aregbesola’s New Education Policy of school mergers unconstitutional; heads to Court to seek redress
From the court of public opinion, the controversy over the recent merger and reclassification of schools by the Rauf Aregbesola administration in Osun State has moved to the hallowed chambers of the judiciary.
In an action filed by two claimants, Justice Babatunde Kuewumi of the Federal High Court on Tuesday began hearing into a suit seeking to declare the Governor’s action illegal, null and void. The suit was filed by a current student and Chief Funsho Abiri, a 1975 graduating set student, respectively, of the St Charles Grammar School, Osogbo.
In a motion ex parte, filed by their counsel O.G. Olujimi & Co., the claimants are asking the court for, among others, an order of interlocutory injunction to restrain the Defendants from reclassifying St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo, Osun State pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit in this matter. Also, in a Motion on Notice, they are contending that the executive declaration of the Governor is a violation of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act CAP. E3 LFN 2004 and the National Secondary Education Commission etc Act CAP N 73 LFN 2004 both of which prescribes a national structure for secondary schools for the country and vest the power for restructuring them in the Minister of Education.
When the matter came up for mention at the court, on Tuesday, 28th January, 2014, S.A. Popoola for the claimant’s counsel asked to move the ex parte motion. Justice Kuewumi, however, ordered that the defendants be put on notice.
In one fell swoop, Governor Rauf Aregbesola had sometime last year announced a wholesale reclassification and merger of schools in the state, abolishing single-gender statuses of schools and changing the 6-3-3-4 system of education to a 4-5-3 format. Speaking on the court action, Chief Abiri told reporters that a situation where a Governor will throw his state into religious and social turmoil as has been witnessed in Osun should not be left unchallenged.
Chief Funso Abiri, an Abuja-based prominent businessman, said: “This court is the last hope of the common man. The reclassification and merger has resulted in a series of untoward consequences. A school Principal has been beaten to a pulp for allegedly rejecting a particular way of dressing in a Christian school; another teacher has been macheted by religious fanatics; pupils are being made to trek long distances from their homes to schools; missionary schools that were set up for single gender are being turned into mixed schools. These schools’ long years of history and the principles behind their founding are being brutally cut shut. More painfully, the Governor simply altered the fundamental principle for school structure in the country as if Nigeria is a banana republic and not a nation founded on the rule of law. These are the issues we want the court to pronounce upon.”
